Under Your Thumb No Longer
by Shadows-In-The-Flames03
Summary: This story follows my Grey Warden, Celeste, on her journey from the Alienage in Denerim to become the savior of Ferelden from the Blight. Alistair x Celeste in later chapters. Based on Dragon Age; Origins but it won't be word perfect xD
1. Chapter 1

**Under Your Thumb No Longer**

**A Dragon Age; Origins Story**

**City Elf.**

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Dear Journal**_

_Celeste's Journal, Day 1. (Although I doubt that this will be an everyday occurrence for me.)_

_As I promised Father, I will record my somewhat thinning thoughts into this journal so the gift he bought me is not wasted. Soris finds this hilarious; he never thought me to be the philosophical type. Shianni cares not, she just lies in wait until I leave this unattended so she can sneak a peek for herself. No matter. What will be recorded from here onwards is nothing that she does not already know. She hopes for gossip, slander, my darkest secrets. My life has been uneventful and so there are none._

_Hear that, Shianni? THERE. ARE. NONE._

_But I digress. Father told me to start from the beginning as if I were addressing a curious stranger so I shall. I must say, for my 16__th__ birthday I had expected something with a bit more grandeur but this does me just fine. Any gift is better than none. So, with Shianni watching me with interest from the table, I shall begin here._

_I was born in the Elven Alienage in the city of Denerim in the great nation of Ferelden. All of that sounds much more regal than it actually is. I am a City Elf and so I was under the thumb of the humans who lived in Denerim since the moment I was out of my mothers womb. She, bless her heart, was claimed by the Maker far too soon but not before she could watch my somewhat restricted childhood and pass her traits as a Rogue down to me. She was a fine woman. A beautiful woman. A powerful woman. I was her double, Father says. Hair as black as the night, skin as pale and delicate as petals of a white rose, eyes as bright a blue as a fork of fresh lightning cracking against the evening sky. Aye, he thought a great deal of my mother and thus he did the same of me. The man had -HAS- so much love in him that sometimes I fear that he may burst, but I could talk about him for hours. I was 6 when my mother passed if memory serves me correctly. I was not stupid, I knew what had happened and death was not an uncommon concept to me since the humans found hilarity in slaughtering my kin when they got too bored up in their castles and estates. How I loathed them, how I wanted to plunge mothers dagger into their spine and watch them suffer like she had to. I only knew the bad in humans then since that was all I had seen._

"_Adaia was a great woman," I was told by a nameless elf the day of her funeral. "She wouldn't of liked to die any other way than in battle,"_

_Their consolation meant nothing. She died unnecessarily. She was taken from father and I for sport. I remember what I had said that day and that elf was quick to retreat in fear of some impossible feat; a human somehow being able to hear me and hunt me down. This was totally disregarding the fact that we were miles away from them here in the Alienage and we were alerted upon anybodies arrival._

"_She would've liked to die in a fair battle, with fair terms and a grand final flourish," My 6 year old self had sniffled. "She hated the death she had received. A disrespectful beating, outnumbered and stripped of her dignity as well as her hope. Mark my words, I will avenge her. The humans will regret the day they laid a hand on my kin, most of all my mother,"_

_The Tabris household had lost its shining light and -without it- we were soon forced to succumb to the darkness. My father and I knew then that the humans abuse would intensify since Adaia, my wonderful mother, was a beacon for our community. Everybody said so. However, I never let it stop me for she had already taught me much. I continued to train and improve on my own under the watchful eye of my father and Valendrian who was a kindly man and one of great wisdom; a perfect Elder. I soon became adept with swords and daggers, my skills nothing short of honed for one so young. My revenge didn't come, however, for their targets always lay further away from me so I could never reach them in time. Instead, I had to get Soris out of sticky situations and ward off the occasional feral animal. Twas a boring existence for me. My quill makes indentations in the page as my frustration betrays me for I still have not HAD my chance for my revenge. Still I am Soris' caretaker, still I am the pest control._

_No matter. I shall wait._

_But yes, the rest of my childhood from that point onwards was dominated by the humans and my hatred for them and yet it did not show. I suppose my hatred was not enough to corrupt me as it did humans. According to my father, I was always well mannered and gentle, so much so that I managed to catch a butterfly and cradle it in my hands without crushing it. I was always something of a strange child I suppose. Soris would often call me his 'hero' and I would snort and tell him that heroes simply did not exist for if they did, one would come and save us. That is something that, to this day, I hold out and hope for. The Alienage has not changed in all this time and while that means we are all still connected to one another by strong bonds, it also means that we are still part of a cruel and unfulfilling existence. _

_Looking back on what I have written, everything seems so…Jumbled, messy, with no true rhyme or reason to why it is so. My mind must have been more cluttered and troubled than expected. There is so much more that I could write but it seems that my unease has been quelled for now. I am sure it will return again tomorrow. For now, the crackling fire and the promise of a meal -however small it may be- lures me from my bed to the table. I always look forward to mealtimes because they start and end the same way; We sit and pray firstly to the Maker and then recite another prayer for Andraste, His bride, to watch over my mothers spirit. At the end of our meal we rise and embrace one another as family before we all retire. Such small things keep me sane and give me hope for tomorrow._

_Tomorrow may not be our day of freedom or my day of revenge but I will stand as a sentinel on the horizon, waiting for that day to come._

_When it does…I will be ready and they will __pay_.

**~END OF CHAPTER 1~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Under Your Thumb No Longer**

**A Dragon Age; Origins Story**

**City Elf.**

_**Chapter 2**_

_**A Cause for 'Celebration'**_

"Wake up, Cousin! Why are you still in bed? It's your big day!"

Several thoughts crossed my mind when Shianni woke me, none of which were terribly pleasant ones and most involved her being maimed one way or another. I sat myself up and swept my hair out of my face, glowering at the cocky redhead who stood above me beside my bed. It took a while for what she'd said to register.

"…Huh? What? Did I oversleep?" I grumbled. "Argh…"

"Yes, your father and I figured you deserved it," Shianni replied with a sprightly grin.

It sickened me. Most things did in the morning.

"You DO remember what today is, don't you?" She continued, regardless of the fact that I probably looked as if I was about to skin her alive.

"Someone's wedding?" I hazarded a guess, vaguely recalling people mentioning something of that kind the day before.

"A DOUBLE wedding! You're getting married, and so is Soris!" She cried. "That's what I came to tell you. Your groom, Nelaros…He's here early!"

I wanted some horrible abomination from the deepest recesses of the Fade to appear and swallow me whole. It would've been less agonising.

"Already? Then I guess I don't have a choice," I snorted as I folded my arms.

Shianni didn't look pleased and said something that must've held no importance for I 'forgot' to listen.

"All right, I'll stop tormenting you. I should go talk to the other bridesmaids and find my dress," She giggled and the news of her leaving caught my rapt attention. "Oh, Soris said he'll be waiting for you outside. So move it!"

With that, my absolute BLESSING of a cousin turned on her heel and left.

I eyed the chest opposite my bed and bent down to open it, taking a few things including my wedding clothes. Looking at them was like resigning to the fact that this was it. I was going to marry someone I had never met and grow old here. I was only twenty two! I refused to admit that I was -in any way, shape, or form- READY to give up my life for marriage. I hadn't seen the world or done anything of any merit. Nevertheless, I reluctantly donned the intricate dress and found it to be surprisingly uncomfortable. They were obviously designed to suffocate the bride so the groom could marry her with no resistance. I would've muttered several profanities if my father had not been watching beadily as I approached the centre of the room. Curbing my tongue, I approached him and his eyes crinkled as his lips parted in a proud smile.

"Ah, my little girl," He greeted me with nostalgia. "It's…The last day I'll be able to call you that. Oh, I wish your mother could have been here!"

The way his voice dropped like that made my heart ache, as did the mention of Mother. I couldn't voice my resistance to this wedding. Not now.

"Me too, Father," I nodded. "Well, what should I be doing?"

I knew he loved telling me what to do as if I were still a little girl. I knew perfectly well what I needed to do but I thought it would cheer him up if he could at least think he was helping me in some way. It seemed to work as that spark re-entered his weathered eyes.

"All right, time for you to go find Soris. The sooner this wedding starts, the less chance you two have to escape,"

Escape, huh? It sounded so inviting. So very, VERY inviting.

"A small chance is still a chance," I replied with probably a little too much enthusiasm.

I was lucky that he took it well and laughed with me.

"Still have your mothers smart mouth, I see,"

But of course. I would've never been able to cope with Soris and Shianni by being PASSIVE. Makers mercy, no.

"Oh…One last thing before you go, my dear," My father pressed on. "Your martial training…The swordplay, knives and whatever else your mother trained you in. Best not to mention it to your betrothed,"

Awwww, that spoilt my fun. If I had told him, I might've managed to scare him away.

"He'll find out sooner or later," I protested with a pout.

"Later. Definitely later. We don't want to seem like troublemakers after all. Adaia made that mistake,"

Just to be clear, I love my father dearly but that made my blood turn to fire from beneath my skin, a burning rage tearing through my being.

"Mother was a clever rogue," I snapped back at him although now I look back on it and realise that he was not trying to antagonise me as I had thought he was.

"Yes. That she was," He replied wearily, as if he knew I would react in such a way. "Take these, your mother would've wanted you to have them. It's the very least I can give you as you start your new life."

He stooped down and picked up a pair of cured boots. Sleek brown leather lined with delicate fur on the inside. They had been mothers boots. I didn't hesitate to put them on, even with my wedding dress clashing with them. Father raised an eyebrow. He disapproved.

"Go on, then. I still have some things to do, and Soris is no doubt waiting for you,"

It didn't take any further encouragement for me to scuttle out the door.

The Alienage was bustling as I had expected. People ran back and forth, jovially patting me on the back as they passed and congratulating me on my 'big day'. I wanted to vomit. Some people even gave me money! MONEY! As if they probably weren't poor enough. Of course, it would've been disrespectful to turn my nose up at it so I had no choice but to take it. I ran into some drunken elves loitering around away from the larger packs of people and they said that the wedding was a 'cause for celebration' and that was their reason for emptying tankards of ale into their awaiting mouths. At least, that's what I had translated. Their slurs were little more above the literacy of a gurgling baby. I was quick to move on, trying to keep a smile plastered on my face as I sifted through the sea of people, looking desperately for Soris. I finally caught sight of him leaning lazily against a tree, watching me.

Wait, he'd been watching? He'd seen me scrambling around to try and find him and hadn't bothered his backside to come and get me?

He retained that boyish smirk as I approached him, reminding myself constantly that I was the better person for not forcibly removing his stunted brain through his ears.

"Well, if it isn't my lucky cousin. Care to celebrate the end of our independence together?" He smirked which just made me want to hit him even more.

"Getting cold feet, are we?" I replied smugly, congratulating myself on not looking as physically sick as he did.

"Are you surprised?" He chuckled nauseously. "Apparently your groom's a dream come true. My bride sounds like a dying mouse,"

Oh yeah, because THAT made me feel better. Never mind the fact that I had protested to the idea of getting married in the first place, it was okay as long as he was a regular Prince Charming! Andraste's breath, that boy was stupid.

"Maybe you'll get a cage for a wedding present," I snorted dryly and was rewarded with a muted laugh from him.

"You're terrible," He scolded but his childish giggling betrayed him. "Let's go introduce you to your dreamy betrothed before you say 'I do',"

I could not help but wonder how much satisfaction it would bring me to say 'I don't'. It would've been less humiliating. Nevertheless, I followed Soris towards the square again with bated breath.

Oh no, wait. That was not bated breath. That damn wedding dress just made it impossible for me to breath without looking like a suffocating fish.

**~END OF CHAPTER 2~**


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